The world welcomes 2025 with fireworks and light shows

From Sydney to Vladivostok to Mumbai, communities around the world have begun welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and exciting live performances.

Auckland became the first major city to celebrate as thousands of revellers counted down to the new year and cheered colourful fireworks launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, the Sky Tower, as part of a spectacular light show.

Many also climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point, as well as a light display recognising Auckland’s Indigenous tribes. It follows a year marked by protests over Maori rights in the nation of five million.

Countries in the South Pacific Ocean are the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking a full 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York.

Conflict muted acknowledgements of the new year in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.

Other cities around the world are readying with celebrations highlighting local cultures and traditions, after a year roiled by ongoing conflict and political instability.

In Australia, more than one million people were expected at Sydney Harbour for the traditional fireworks. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong and Indigenous ceremonies, and performances acknowledged the land’s first people.

Much of Japan has shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning, including swatting floor mats called “tatami” with big sticks.

The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin.

Stores in Japan, which observes the zodiac cycle from January 1, have been selling tiny figures of smiling snakes and other snake-themed products. Other places in Asia will start marking the Year of the Snake later, with the Lunar New Year.

In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or cancelled as the country observes a period of national mourning following the crash on Sunday of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.

In Thailand’s Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows.

A performance by popular rap singer Lisa, the Thai member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, was scheduled just before midnight.

A fireworks display in Indonesia’s Jakarta featured 800 drones.

Elsewhere, Chinese state media covered an exchange of new year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin in a reminder of the growing closeness between two leaders who face tensions with the West.

Mr Xi told Mr Putin that their countries would “always move forward hand-in-hand”, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

China has maintained ties and robust trade with Russia since the latter invaded Ukraine in 2022, helping to offset Western sanctions and attempts to isolate Mr Putin.

Mr Xi also addressed Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing: “We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same family. No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us.”

In his address to the nation, Mr Putin said Russia has “set big goals for ourselves and achieved them, and we overcame difficulties more than once because we were together”.

In India, thousands of revellers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea.

And in Dubai, thousands were attending a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.

Rome’s traditional New Year’s Eve festivities have an additional draw: the start of Pope Francis’ Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration projected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the Eternal City in 2025.

Francis celebrated vespers at St Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday evening and will hold Mass on Wednesday when he is expected to again appeal for peace amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early on Tuesday as the US territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

More than 1.2 million out of 1.47 million customers were without power, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution on the island.

It was not immediately clear what caused the widespread outage or when power would be restored.